FDA-D.438-2010
Parts
Object number
FDA-D.438-2010
Object type
Identification
Title
A Bullfight, Seville
Pilkington
Pilkington
Title Type
assigned by cataloguer
collection
collection
Comments
Roberts' trip to Spain in 1832-33 lasted almost exactly one year. He spent longer in Seville than in any other city, and made it the subject of numerous large paintings on his return. His sketches also served as the basis for no less than four consecutive editions of Robert Jennings' Landscape Annual, from 1835 to 1838. The 1836 Annual, devoted entirely to Andalusia, has this image of the bullfight in Seville as its frontispiece. Roberts' notes on the plates included the comment that the unfinished state of the bullring allowed him to incorporate the magnificent view of the cathedral and the Moorish tower, the Giralda, in the distance. Begun in 1761, the bullring was not finally complete until 1849. Part of the stone arcade is visible to the right; the rest of the circle was completed by a temporary structure made of wood.
The fascination with Spain that the images of Robert and Lewis fuelled during the 1830s was not without its ambiguities, vividly encapsulated in the introuduction to Richard Ford's authoritative Hand-book for travellers in Spain, first published by John Murray in 1845 and much reprinted. 'Those who aspire to the romantic, the poetical, the sentimental, the artistical, the antiquarian, the classical, in short, to any of the sublime and beautiful lines, will find both in the past and present state of Spain subjects enough, in wandering with lead-pencil and note book through this singular country, which hovers between Europe and Africa, between civilisation and barbarism'.
The fascination with Spain that the images of Robert and Lewis fuelled during the 1830s was not without its ambiguities, vividly encapsulated in the introuduction to Richard Ford's authoritative Hand-book for travellers in Spain, first published by John Murray in 1845 and much reprinted. 'Those who aspire to the romantic, the poetical, the sentimental, the artistical, the antiquarian, the classical, in short, to any of the sublime and beautiful lines, will find both in the past and present state of Spain subjects enough, in wandering with lead-pencil and note book through this singular country, which hovers between Europe and Africa, between civilisation and barbarism'.
Other number
Pi 262
Description
Dimensions
height (actual size): 289mm
width (actual size): 419mm
width (actual size): 419mm
Inscription
Signed and dated 'D. Roberts 1835' (lower left)
Materials & techniques note
Pencil and watercolour heightened with white bodycolour
Production
Person
Roberts, David, 1796 - 1864 (Artist)
Date
1835
History and association
Object history note
Provenance: Collection of Walter Turner; bequeathed to Eton College by Alan Pilkington in 1973
Exhibited: 'Exhibition of Early English Water-colours from the Collection of J. Leslie Wright Esq. and Walter Turner Esq.', City Art Gallery, Birmingham, 1938 (catalogue number 176); 'Three centuries of British Water-colours and Drawings', Arts Council, 1951 (catalogue number 142). Colnaghi, 1958 (catalogue number 16); 'David Roberts' Barbican Art Gallery, London, 1986 (catalogue number 101); 'A Genius for Watercolour', Christie’s, London 2003 (catlogue number 62)
Exhibited: 'Exhibition of Early English Water-colours from the Collection of J. Leslie Wright Esq. and Walter Turner Esq.', City Art Gallery, Birmingham, 1938 (catalogue number 176); 'Three centuries of British Water-colours and Drawings', Arts Council, 1951 (catalogue number 142). Colnaghi, 1958 (catalogue number 16); 'David Roberts' Barbican Art Gallery, London, 1986 (catalogue number 101); 'A Genius for Watercolour', Christie’s, London 2003 (catlogue number 62)
